Take the Black
Take the Black is a pop rock band from Yonkers, NY. Our music is simple, melodic, and full of energy and life. Our irreverent take on many aspects of life shine through in our lyrics and our social media. We hope to be back out on tour ASAP, and are always looking for ways to expand our brand and play for cool new people!
For fans who have never heard your music, can you pick three words to describe it?! If three words just aren't enough then tell us more!!
Energetic, Melodic, nostalgic.... Our music comes from the music that inspired us, so you can hear those influences, but we also bring it to our own place as well. We look at life in our own way and I think it shows.
What is your favorite part about being an artist? Is it songwriting, performing, recording, something else?) Tell us why.
For us, it's all about the songwriting and the recording, especially since COVID started. We really strive to make our songs the best they can possibly be and sometimes that means agonizing over certain details while we're creating. Our favorite part is performing live and feeling that real energy in front of you, but we always go back to our songwriting and recording as our foundation.
Can you tell us what being in the recording studio is like for you?
I think each band member has a different strength in the studio, and we're all very different when it comes to recording. Tom is very comfortable in the studio, he always kind of knows what to expect and what comes next. He knows what will sound right even before he goes in. Eddie, on the other hand, loves to experiment with different options for the track, ranging from trying different arrangements musically for different portions of the song to calibrating the harmonies or vocal dynamics. He really likes to focus in and get the most out of every single song. Sean is the least comfortable in the studio personally, but bounces off of Eddie and Tom and as a team we come together to make things work the best they can.
Okay, this a fun question. When you are not doing music, what else do you enjoy doing?
We love to spend time with our friends and families. Reading, we're big fans of horror writers like Joe Hill and Bentley Little. We love to watch TV shows, we're currently watching lots of different shows. We also love to lose money on cryptocurrency when we can! Before the pandemic we were huge fans of live music, we loved going to see shows whenever we could, and we're really hoping to get back to that.
Who do you admire most in the music scene today and why?
We are huge fans of The Menzingers, from Philadelphia. We admire them because they're absolutely incredible song writers and they write the most catchy and tight melodies. Also, they write about things that are universal and they do it in an original way. Just all around good songs. Highlights for us would be songs like After the Party, Midwestern States, Casey, and Anna. We recommend anyone who loves high energy music that's really meaningful to check them out.
Can you tell us what song you've written that is the most emotional and describe the meaning behind it?
It's very tough for us to pick the most emotional song we've written because we try to write songs about things that really matter to us, but on our new release there's a song called Perfect Last Impressions, and that one is definitely among our most emotional.
Perfect Last Impressions is about when someone who is walking out of your life doesn't tell you the truth about why or doesn't give you the chance to know that it's goodbye. People do this a lot because they don't want to face the unpleasantness of having to explain themselves, or of having to look you in the eye. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is be honest. It's a song about trying to work through that and deal with it when someone does it to you.
Are you working on any new material right now or what's in the works for the upcoming year?
Yes we are, we have a release coming out on Spotify at the end of July. It's called "Learning to Let Go". We're also working on a second release for later this year, sometime in the late fall. We're also going to be getting back out there and playing shows in the NYC area. Check out our social media for updates!
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Tell us where fans can access your music.
Stream it on Spotify
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